Previews

FIFA Soccer 2005

Finally, as you get to the goalie, you can do one of a few things. You can either try to blast a shot past him, turn and try to tap one into the corner, or you can fake him out of his shoes. As he comes out to challenge you, a press of the shoulder button and the shoot button will perform a special goalie fake, which can leave you with a open shot on the goal. However, if you try to juke the goalie every time down the pitch, he'll learn your tricks and grab the ball every time.

For those times when you'd rather send a ball into the middle of the box from the sides, a new lob system has also been implemented. You can now control the height of your crossing lobs, choosing between high, medium, or low. Depending on where your teammate receives the ball, he can head it or kick it towards the goal. Or, if you'd rather, you can take control of the player and use the First Touch system to do whatever you'd like with it.

Don't think that this year's additions are only to the action on the field, though. Taking a page from it's competition, the game's career mode has also gotten a huge overhaul. Not only will you be responsible for the player lineups and strategies, you'll also have to deal with staffing decisions. While having a good trainer or medical staff might not seem like a big deal, you'll see that they're nearly as important as the talent on the field if you want to be a championship calibre club.

The presentation of the game has been upgraded, as well. The producers told me that they wanted to make watching the game as enjoyable as viewing one on TV, so they've done a lot to change the visual look of the action. Not only has the picture itself been color corrected to appear more like a broadast, even the grass has been reworked to appear more like the real thing. With better textures and sharper contrasts between the varied mowing patterns, the field has never looked better.

The FIFA series has always been one EA's greatest franchises, so it's nice to see some exciting new additions in this year's version. The First Touch system is going to make the game more fluid than it's ever been, as well as more exciting. With players streaking up the field and breaking free more often, FIFA Soccer 2005 is going to bring all of the graceful action from the pitch to your console.